Qbn commuters set to Park and Ride

By
David Butler

LOCAL commuters and city office workers are set to benefit from a new Park and Ride public transport hub to be constructed at the Council-owned Collett St car park, following a $744,000 State Government grant announced this week.

Qbn commuters set to Park and Ride

LOCAL commuters and city office workers are
set to benefit from a new Park and Ride public transport hub to be constructed
at the Council-owned Collett St car park, following a $744,000 State Government
grant announced this week.

The Morisset St school bus interchange will
also be moved to the new Collett St hub, however Mayor Tim Overall said that
decision was not related to a new Dan Murphy's liquor store set to open across
the road from the current interchange location.

Cr Overall said the transport venture
predated the incoming Dan Murphy's by two years, and would prove both a safer
location for students and less disruptive for city workers.

"Council is of the view that the
school bus interchange, while it might have been appropriate 10 years ago, it's
certainly outgrown its current location.

"It's congested, there are road safety
issues there, it requires regular monitoring and with the grace of the
Queanbeyan's population it's necessary to construct a new school bus
interchange and park and ride facility," he said.

The new transport hub will go before
councillors as an information report at next week's ordinary meeting of
Council. It would include public toilets, lock-up bicycle storage, a taxi rank,
CCTV monitoring, seating and lighting as well as room for up to 10 buses. Construction
could be finished as soon as December, Cr Overall said.

The current school interchange sits just
outside offices at Morisset House, and staff there have welcomed the
relocation. Campbell Page employee, Rebecca Young, said the busy before and after
school times had been noisy and distracting for office staff.

"We're on the ground floor and the
entire outside of our office is all glass, so you can imagine when there's a
group of kids coming past and banging their bags on the windows it can be fairly
loud," Ms Young said.

"When you've got a client sitting in
front of you or you're on the phone it's not a great look."

Meanwhile Queanbeyan's latest chain store,
Dan Murphy's will take up residence across the road on the corner of Morisset
and Crawford streets at the current Bill Lilley Mitsubishi location.

Mr Lilley said he was not yet ready to
discuss his future plans, but would prepare the site for its new tenants over
the coming months.

A Woolworths spokesperson said the
approximately 1400 square-metre liquor store would include entrance/exit points
on both Morisset and Crawford streets and would employ around 30 local staff.

The spokeswoman said opening was predicted
for "some point" in 2015, depending on the amount of remediation work
required at the site.

This week Cr Overall also quashed
speculation the Council-owned car park lying directly next to the Dan Murphy's
site would be sold to Woolworths as part of the development.

Queanbeyan City Council will soon consult
with both QCity Transit and the general public regarding the design of the
Collett St Park and Ride.